Chapter 11: On the Other Side of the Mountain

I hadn't seen Jill much since that dinner

I haven't even seen Alexey very much, the Wiki people say they are negotiating, and they are signing some contracts, I didn't really believe in contracts from the beginning, I feel that contracts are just a piece of paper, so I've always wondered why the Nords and Wikibians take contracts as their lives, and they don't make promises easily

"Whatever the reason," Alexei later said to me, "the oathbreaker will be cursed"

Wikibians never promise anything, but as long as they say yes to you, then you can rest assured that you can wait for their news, and I gradually learned not to make promises easily, but once I promise others, I will do my best to do it

In the days that followed, Wikibians got busy

Almost all of them have their own things to do besides me

The sailors went to the docks, and the coats and coats of arms on their chests changed from eagles holding scepters and crowns to white doves stepping on the scales, and these sailors have become the first people of the White Dove Fleet, and they will be at Martin's disposal from now onFor this Martin, I have only heard some stories of his early years in the army, and it is said that he also helped the Chanda and the Vicchians to fight, is it because of this that Ivan hated him?

There were also some bookkeepers who began to busily transcribe the documents, they usually transcribe the documents they needed in three copies, once when I wandered into a well-ventilated house, I saw that all the people were sleeping in the afternoon sunshine, and the documents they had written were placed on the right, and a few orders of white paper were placed on the left, and they used quill tubes to write documents, and the pen would be damaged in a short time, and they needed to be resharpened in the university, and the boys who were in charge of sharpening quills and reed pens earned more money than blacksmiths. But this kind of job is generally in high demand and not very easy to get

The documents they transcribed were generally about the transfer of goods, the transfer of real estate, and the transfer of shops, except for a few industries, the Romanov family sold almost all the properties to the White Pigeon Business Association, I am curious why the Romanovs dared to make such a decision against the water, if the eastward advance failed, the Romanov family would have no room to turn back, but I heard that when the Romanov family crossed the mountain pass, They burned their manor on the other side of the hill to make it clear that their men would not turn back, and it may have been this indomitable spirit that has made the Romanovs successful for the past hundred years

In fact, there are many families in the Frost Castle that did not show such a strong attitude after losing the land, many families are content to lose their estates, and then move to the city, they will gain a firm foothold through marriage, let the children of the family go to the palace to serve, and then run a few industries, and before long, such families can also become the power of the rich side, although the foundation of these families is not as solid as the families who own the land, and these families will generally suffer heavy losses if there is a storm

You can do anything on your land, and if it doesn't work, it's not your land

It was this belief that made the Romanovs prefer to give up all their land rather than condescend to the East, although it is barbaric, but they can have absolutely their own land there, and since they can't protect their land here, they simply give it up

This is exile, but also an expedition

If it fails, a family will sink to the bottom of the long river and disappear into oblivion; But if it succeeds, then the family will rise with the sun in the east, and one day it will look to the west again

Even for the sake of this possibility, the Romanovs were willing to give it a try

Now that the kingdoms of Vekia in the Eastern world are in tatters, the former alliance of city-states has been defeated, and now some of the Vikians have defected to the Berks, and the rest are fighting on their own, and it is said that the Kriel Khanate, a client state of Salander, and the Kugit nomads are also taking the opportunity to attack the Vikyans

If a powerful country were to occupy the black land of the East, the black land of the Orient was fertile and vast, with hot summers and cold winters, and if a powerful country could one day take over it, it would be possible to harvest grains as vast as the sea by sowing seeds, to hear the noise of livestock in the mountains if cattle and sheep were released, and to establish settlements to obtain dense and rich towns

But now, it's a place of chaos

The noble alliance of the Berks crushed the forces of the Vikians with their armies and occupied the Donglin Valley, the most densely populated area of the Viks, under the rule of the Berks, except for the Berks and Swadians, all the people became a second-class people, especially the Berks, the bishops of the Berks only followed the creed of the Western Church, they actively pursued the oppressive policy of the Eastern Church, the churches of the Vicchians and the Chanda were demolished, the priests who followed the Eastern Church were persecuted, and their scriptures and holy relics were plundered by the Berks, The agate, amber and precious stones that adorned it were cut off and sold

For the Wikibians living in large numbers, the Berks disarmed the Wikibians in various places, set up Berk barracks or outposts in every village and town, and the Berks stipulated that the Wikibian families in each place must marry the Berks, otherwise the property will be confiscated, and these soul blood children will be declared by the Berks to have the inheritance rights of their families, and the descendants of these soul blood children still need to marry the Berks, and the Berks expect to purify the dirty Wikiasian blood through bloodline in a few generations

The Wikibian script was abolished, and only Berk and Swadian were taught in church schools

Almost every week, in the towns occupied by the Berks, there would be captured Wikibians executed, and people were no longer surprised that they were beheaded and hanged, so the Berks began to deal with the Wikibians in a different way, turning the weekly execution ceremony into a show that hit the morale of the Wikibians In some towns, the ancient gladiator profession was being restored, and the noble officials of the Berke were grinning and watching the Wikiians fight to the death, and the victor may be pardoned, or still be thrown to the lions

The Berks thought that this would bring the Wikibians to their knees, but it was clear that the Berks had not achieved their goal

The resistance of the Wikiians is getting stronger and stronger, and in some places the reorganized Wikiians have begun to counterattack with the big rivers and forests as a stronghold, these old nests are generally built in hidden places, and the Wikibians often spend spring and summer in these places, and when the autumn comes, they will go around and burn down the strongholds and grain areas of the Berks, and the Rhodoks did the same in the past, but the Rhodoks did not have cavalry troops, so they could not expand the results of the battle, while the Wikiians had excellent cavalry troops, iron shield cavalry

These cavalrymen were born of the Wikiians in the process of intermingling with the nomads, they had the culture and discipline of the Wikibians, and at the same time they were as cheap to maintain as nomads, and easy to recruit, through these cavalry, the Wikibians came and went like the wind and harassed the Berks, and the leaders of an iron shield cavalry said, "From every Christmas to the next, the Berks have absolutely no time to prepare a Christmas tree"

In this case, the Berks began to seek cooperation with the Crel Khanate and the Kugit tribes, and the Berks demanded that these men go north to attack the backs of the Vikians, and in return, the Berks promised to provide them with women and gold coins that were stolen from Vekia and gold coins that remained on paper

In the beginning, the servant city-states of the Salanders and the Kugit tribes were actively heading north, but after several years of fighting, on the one hand, they did not take advantage of the Wikiians, and on the other hand, the promises of the Berks were not delivered to them, so these two groups are now only watching from afar in the south, although they are still nominally at war with the Wikijans, and recognize the Berks as the sole suzerains of the eastern lands, but in fact, these people have begun to pursue a policy of neutrality

During an offensive by the Burks last fall, a force of 200 Burke cavalry penetrated deep into the rear of the Vikians and burned down a large number of villages

When this army penetrated deep into the land of the Vykians, it was like a hot knife cutting through the butter, and there was no resistance, but when they retreated, it was like an iron drill being embedded in the stone, and it became very difficult to withdraw, and these Berks chose to go south under constant attack, hoping to escape to the city-state of Salander for the winter, but in the end, the Creelians actually refused to allow these Burke soldiers to enter the city, and watched these Burke soldiers be swallowed up by the thousands of Vikarian pursuers who followed them under the city

After that, the Berks were furious, and they punished some of the nobles of Salander and Creel, hanged them on the city gates, and the corpses were put together with pork to rot due to the great power of the Berks, and the Creelians did not immediately turn against the Berks, but it is said that under Sī, the Creelians in the east of the mountains had begun to actively contact the Vikyans

Tossalander, a Creelian, told the Wikibians that if the Wikibians could make concessions on faith and land, the Creelians would consider helping the Wikibians instead

The Vikians replied to the Salanders: "Vicchian's knives are as sharp as the Burkes, but our women and wine are sweeter than theirs, and you will do it yourself"

As for the Kujits, it seems that they are not the main players in the East at the moment

Their power was once so powerful that even the Burks had to think about dealing with them first

But recently in the southeast, a tribe migrating from the steppes of the far east has severely weakened the Kujits, and west of the mountain pass, the Kugit suffered a crushing defeat at Swadia in previous years, and after the war, they suffered a complete trade blockade, and now they are in a difficult situation and cannot support their brothers in the eastern part of the mountain, so now the Kugit in the east of the mountains have been reduced to a mercenary tribe, because the Burks can afford to pay, and many Kugit tribes will join the Burks to participate in the attack, But the miserliness and arrogance of the Burks had already made the Kugit people dissatisfied, and in contrast, the impoverished but generous Vycians were somewhat sympathetic to the Kujits, and the Iron Shield Cavalry was completely nomadic

The east of the mountains is in the midst of a raging war

The Romanovs had also transcribed the last documents and counted the last package of goods before loading them onto the ship

By this time, more than a week had passed, and Alexei's trip to Fandra was almost over, and I couldn't tell from his face how the negotiations were going

He just told me that he was going to the east of the mountains

My heart sank, because he said that if he found my parents, he would send me back, and now he said directly to go to the east of the mountain, and I have heard the words behind this

I told him my thoughts, and he sighed, "Yes, Jill has investigated a lot of people, but no one has lost a child nearby, and it will take half a year to get a reply from a distant place, but Mr. Jill said that you can wait here, go to school here, and he will take care of you Of course, you decide for yourself, whether to stay, or go to the other side of the mountain with us, don't be in a hurry now, tell me tomorrow"

I thought about it a lot that night, and I kept thinking about the small valley above the mural, and I suddenly had the feeling that if I went to the other side of the mountain, I might be able to find such a valley, or, build my own, I began to sleep, and began to dream, dreaming of a most beautiful valley and a group of people who were most familiar

Alexei said that on the other side of the mountain, anyone can be knighted by virtue of their courage and sword, and after having the status of nobility, they can recruit their own lords and retinues and become a lord

Becoming a lord on the other side of the mountain requires only courage and wisdom

The next day, I found Alexey

He asked me, "Have you thought about it?" ”

"Well," I nodded, "when are we out?" ”